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Washington State University

WSU Snohomish County Extension office has moved!

Our office is now located in the Snohomish County Parks & Recreation Administration Office at Willis Tucker Park, 6705 Puget Park Drive, Snohomish, 98296.

Sugar

Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

Did you know that each day most Americans eat about 88 grams of added sugar?  That’s 22 teaspoons of sugar!

Excess sugar adds a lot of calories to our diets, without any of the nutrients we need to be healthy. Limiting sugar can help us to have a healthy body weight and avoid chronic diseases such as diabetes. It is recommended that women eat and drink no more than 24 grams (6 teaspoons) of added sugar, and men no more than 36 grams (9 teaspoons) of added sugar

One of the best ways to reduce added sugar, is to limit sugar sweetened beverages such as energy drinks, fruit drinks, and soda. Just one can of soda can have 39 grams of sugar – that is more than we should have in a whole day!

 

Added vs. Natural Sugar

There are two different types of sugar found in food – added sugar and natural sugar. Added sugar is the sugar we add to food either at home or during the processing of food. It is usually found in processed grains, flavored dairy, sugar sweetened beverages, desserts and snack foods.

Natural sugar is the sugar that grows naturally in foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, whole grains and plain dairy. These foods have calories, but they come with vitamins and minerals that keep us healthy!

Finding Sugar

The best way to find sugar is to look at the ingredient list. Although the nutrition facts label tells you how many grams of sugar is in the food, we need to look at the ingredient list to find out how much is added and how much is natural.

Look for these words on an ingredient list to find the added sugar. The closer the sugar word is to the beginning of the ingredient list, the more added sugar there is in the food.

Brown Sugar Corn Sweetener Corn Syrup
High Fructose Corn Syrup Honey Invert Sugar
Malt Sugar Molasses Raw Sugar
Syrup Words ending in -ose (Destrose, Fructose, Glucose, Maltose, Sucrose, etc)

More Information About Sugar

Check out this 10 Tips Sheet .from the USDA! Cut Back On Your Kid’s Sweet Treats</a.

ChooseMyPlate.gov

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